Umicore Precious Metals Canada Inc

Umicore’s business unit Jewellery and Industrial Metals serves the North American market through two legal entities:

Umicore Precious Metals Canada Inc. is a leading supplier of precious metals products in grain, wire , sheet and tube form and provides assaying and refining services for gold, silver, platinum and palladium.The company was orginally established in 1914 and operates from its facilities in Markham, ON. Umicore, a certified member of the Responsible Jewellery Council, is proudly the only North American precious metals supplier to also have the ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment) and OHSAS 18001 (health and safety) certifications.

Assay Services

Umicore uses the following state of the art assaying technologies:

Fire assay: the most suitable method for the determination of gold and silver and the standard for commercial transactions in the precious metals industry. In order to benchmark our laboratory, we participate in ASTM round robin tests every six months.
Classical wet chemistry: although labour and time intensive, these methods provide the most accurate results for complex materials.
ICP-OES: a proven technique to determine impurities in precious metals materials.
X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: a semi quantitative, quick analysis of a material’s composition.

Refining Services

Refining of gold, silver, platinum and palladium has been an integral part of our North American operations for nearly a century. These services are provided to all facets of the precious metal industry, such as jewellery, dentistry, chemical and industrial sectors. Our operations are both ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environment) certified.

Gold Metallics

Bullion - dry, directly meltable metallics, containing less than 20% Ni and no Cd. Casting scrap (gates, sprues, buttons), bars, skeleton scrap, lathe scrap, flake, filings. Contacts on support blades, plates and posts can be processed provided the support is less than 50% of the total mass. Canadian gold coins are not accepted for refining.

Silver Metallics

Bullion - dry, directly meltable metallics, containing less than 20% Ni and no Cd, W or Fe. Casting scrap (gates, sprues, buttons), bars, skeleton scrap, lathe scrap, flake, filings. Contacts on support blades, plates and posts can be processed provided the support is less than 50% of the total mass. Canadian silver coins should be reported using the appropriate refining packing slip.

Platinum or Palladium Metallics (Including Dental Alloys)

Bullion - dry, directly meltable metallics, casting scrap (gates, sprues, buttons), bars, skeleton scrap, lathe scrap, flake, filings. Scrap from Dental offices without amalgam (mercury). Radioactive or bio-hazardous materials cannot be accepted.

Gold and Silver and Platinum Sweeps

Sweeps - dry, low grade residue from finishing or reclamation process with a particle size no bigger than a filing. Floor and bench sweeps, polishing dust, wheels, buffs, wipes, filters, carpets, crucibles, flux and or slag, requiring burning, grinding and sifting for processing into metallic dust prior to sampling and assay.

Gold Clad Products - Gold filled materials

Dry, directly meltable metallics with low gold content, less than 20% Ni and no Cd, W or Fe.

Car Catalysts

Car catalysts are recycled by Umicore. Please contact us for further assistance.

Recovery of precious stones

Recovery of precious stones from gold jewellery and refining of the gold. Recoverable stones are returned to the customer. Diamonds, cubic zirconium, rubies and emeralds are recoverable. Items such as onyx, tiger eyes, opals and pearls are not recoverable. Settlement times and costs may go up for items with rhodium plating, high silver content, PGM, channel sets etc.

Sustainability Approach

Umicore's sustainable development approach comes in first instance from The Umicore Way. This document sets out the vision of the Group and the values we seek to promote and serves as a reference point for all our employees.
Supplementary to The Umicore Way, we have also developed a comprehensive framework for ethical business practice through our Code of Conduct and a document which sets out our management philosophy and governance principles - the Corporate Governance Charter.

Further detailed information can be found by clicking on the following link. http://www.sustainabledevelopment.umicore.com

Environment:

Our manufacturing site is ISO14001 (environment) certified. This means that an external auditor verifies legal compliance and the continued improvement of our environmental performance. In addition, our manufacturing site is also a certified member of the Responsible Jewellery Council.

Umicore's Toxic Reduction Plan

Business ethics:

Umicore believes that success depends upon creating and maintaining a relationship of trust and professionalism with its main stakeholders namely its employees, commercial partners, shareholders, government authorities and the public.

Umicore's Accessibility Policy

The main purpose of Umicore’s Code of Conduct is to ensure that all persons acting on behalf of Umicore perform their activities in an ethical way and in accordance with the laws and regulations and with the standards Umicore sets through its present and future policies, guidelines and rules.